Can This Bill End the SEC-CFTC Power Tussle? 🧐
Also today: 🚨 Lido assures token safety, 🚫 DOJ throws a wrench in FTX's strategy. 🔚 Binance cuts ties with Polygon NFTs, and more!
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What’s Poppin’?
Major US Crypto Markets Bill is Facing a Congressional Gauntlet
by Kollen Post
The bill, proposed by Republican committee chairs Patrick McHenry and Glenn Thompson, aims to create a comprehensive framework for the roles of the CFTC and SEC in regulating digital assets.
FTX Sues LayerZero Labs to Recover $21 Million of ‘Avoidable Transfers’
by Samyuktha Sriram
Lawyers for FTX argued that a last-minute fire sale agreement arranged between Alameda Research’s Caroline Ellison and LayerZero was fraudulent and avoidable.
Lido Says LDO, stETH Tokens Remain Safe Despite ‘Fake Deposit’ Attacks
by Samyuktha Sriram
Blockchain security firm SlowMist identified an operational issue in the LDO Token contract that has allegedly been exploited by malicious actors.
US Trustee Objects to FTX’s Plans to Sell, Stake and Hedge its Digital Assets
by Kari McMahon
The DOJ’s representative in FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings pushed back on the company’s strategy for selling its over $3 billion in crypto holdings.
Binance Sunsets Support for Polygon NFTs as it Continues to ‘Streamline’ Offerings
by Kari McMahon
Crypto exchange Binance will no longer allow users to buy or list NFTs linked to the Polygon network from the end of this month.
On the Pod…
Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and four co-authors published a paper describing a smart contract protocol called privacy pools that would enable crypto users to associate their funds with those being used for legitimate purposes versus those being used in criminal activity such as hacks or money laundering. The protocol addresses one of the main shortcomings of coin mixer Tornado Cash, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. government.
Chainalysis chief scientist Jacob Illum, one of those co-authors, discusses the impetus for the paper, the technology behind privacy pools and how they would work in practice, who would provide some of the necessary organization to operate the pools, and some of the early criticisms of the paper.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
📑 A court filing disclosed FTX's substantial marketing and sponsorship payments to notable figures and organizations, including Shaquille O'Neal, Naomi Osaka, Trevor Lawrence and David Ortiz.
💻 Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense refuted the DOJ's claims on SBF's adequate laptop access, emphasizing persistent connectivity and resource access constraints.
🏛️ The SEC accused Ripple of delaying the case to continue selling XRP without required disclosures, urging a swift interlocutory appeal to expedite the litigation process.
⚖️ Jacob Orvidas settled with the CFTC over a $2 million bitcoin commodity pool scheme, agreeing to pay back investors and a $500,000 penalty, alongside a 10-year registration and trading ban.
🚨 Vitalik Buterin's X account was hacked, facilitating a phishing scam that deceived users into a fake NFT mint, resulting in the theft of approximately $700,000 in cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
🐦 A fraudulent $25 million crypto giveaway on X exploited the recent buzz around Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's potential transformation into an ETF.
💸 A Bitcoin user mistakenly incurred a $500,000 transaction fee for transferring merely $200 worth of bitcoin.
🔒 Ripple compensated Fortress Trust's customers who faced losses due to a security breach, expediting the process of acquiring the startup.
🔍 Steve Kokinos is appointed as the CEO of the entity succeeding crypto lender Celsius, with board members including executives from WeWork, Lehman Brothers, and US Bitcoin.
🔧 Infura aims to launch a decentralized version of its service by the end of 2023, with the governance structure still under consideration, to enhance resilience to outages.
The $$$ Corner…
🎮 Animoca Brands secured $20 million in funding to develop Mocaverse, a web3 identity project aimed at enhancing gaming and entertainment platforms.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Rodrigo Seira on the CFTC settlements with DeFi protocols Opyn, Deridex and 0x
Unchained: What Are Crypto Mixers? A Beginner’s Guide to Coin Tumblers
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down .4%, trading at $25,696
ETH is down 2%, trading at $1,590
BTC dominance: 47.05%
Crypto market cap: $1.06 trillion
*All data as of today, 7:00 am ET
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